Waxman along with ranking Republican Tom Davis in a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Clemens’ statements in a Feb. 5 sworn deposition and at a Feb. 13 hearing “that he never used anabolic steroids or human growth hormone” calls for a deeper investigation.

Boxer, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, released documents yesterday uncovered by her staff showing that Johnson’s top aides had urged him to grant California’s smog waiver. Johnson in December denied the state’s ability to enact its landmark emissions reduction law, and lawmakers have been crying foul ever since.

“I ask you to reconsider,” Boxer told Johnson in a gentle moment. Then she rattled off a list of more than a dozen court cases the EPA has lost under the Bush administration and predicted ths at the state of California, whwhich is suing the agency over denial of the waiver, would win as well.

“You have a rotten track record,” Boxer said. “Why are you putting half the people of the United States at risk? Restore some integrity to the EPA.”

Johnson, as he has in the past, defended his decision and insisted he made it without the influence of the White House or the auto industry. And, he said, while he values his staff’s opinion, the ultimate decision rests with him.

“I made the decision. I made it independently. I carefully considered all the comments, and I made the decision,” Johnson said.

At least some Republican lawmakers defended Johnson, and questioned whether Boxer has been appropriate in airing the documents that the EPA has allowed the committee to see about how the deliberations were made. The agency has not given the committee copies of the documents, only allowing aides to hand-copy them in the presence of EPA staff.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach/Long Beach is on the House floor now blasting the Bush administration for refusing to allo him to interview a federal prisoner.

Rohrabacher has been pushing to interview Ramzi Yousef, one of the masterminds of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing to investigate possible connections to the Oklahoma City bombing. The requests, he said, have been consistently unanswered or denied, he said.

But in a wide-ranging floor speech, Rohrabacher is taking aim at Bush in areas usually reserved for Democrats, calling the president “arrogant,” “secretive” and calling the administration’s interaction with Congress as filled with “contempt and condescension.”

“George Bush was elected president, not king,” Rohrabacher said.

The denouncement on the House floor of the administration is a first for a Republican. Rohrabacher is a staunch supporter of the Iraq war and last year voted with the administration 85 percent of the time, according to Congressional Quartely.

Now the ranking Republican on the House foreign affairs oversight subcommittee, Rohrabacher noted that it is within his congressiona right to interview federal prisoners if the prisoner acquieses.

“When the president of the United States rejects the legitimacy of congressional prerogatives, there are serious consequences,” he said.

The Justice Department has not returned calls about Rohrabacher’s request. Yousef is being held at the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colo.

New information is dripping out about the battles inside the Environmental Protection Agency leading up to Administrator Stephen Johnson’s denial of California’s waiver to implement its landmark smog law.

According to a set of talking points obtained this week by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the EPA’s director of transportation and air quality, Margot Oge, warned Johnson as late as October 2007 that “the stakes are huge, especially with respet to future climate change.” She also, according to the document, urged Johnson to consider a compromise in which the EPA grants the waiver for three years before defering it.

“You have to find a way to get this done,” reads the memo prepared for Oge by Christopher Grundler, Deputy Director of EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality

“If you cannot, you will face a pretty big personal decision about whether you are able to stay in this job under those circumstances,” it says. “This is a choice only you can make, but I ask you to think about the hsitory,and the future of the agency in making it. If you are asked to deny the waiver, I fear the credibility of the agency that we both love will be irreparably damaged.”

Boxer on Tuesday said the newly-released documents point to “an agency in crisis” over the California decision.

Johnson in December denied California’s waiver request to enact a state law requiring a 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2016. The state has filed a lawsuit opposing the decision.

The slow drip of documents is in response to demands from both Boxer and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles. They had previously uncovered e-mails exposing lobbying from top officials in the Department of Transportation against California’s emissions plan, and a tight relationship between the agency and the auto lobby.

The newest documents, which Boxer aides are allowed to view only in the process of EPA officials and are permitted only to hand copy, have highlighted a lively debate among the agency’s staff _ almost always in favor of California’s request. Boxer has said she is continuing to push for more documents explaining Johnson’s final decision.

In the meantime, Johnson is expected to appear before Boxer’s Senate Environment and Public Works Committee tomorrow to discuss the FY2009 budget. It’s fair to expect a political version of “wackamole,” with Boxer verbally bashing Jonson each time he picks up his head.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena has introduced legislation to rename the San Gabriel Post Office after former Mayor Chi Mui, who died in 2006.

Schiff called Mui “a well-respected and dedicated leader in San Gabriel.” The move was praised by Mui’s wife, Betty Mui, and current San Gabriel Mayor Kevin B. Sawkins.

Born in Toisan, China, Mui’s family came to the United States in 1963. He was raised in New York City and graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Polytechnic University of New York. After moving to California in 1980, Mui became involved in a number of community groups and in 2003 was elected mayor of San Gabriel.